Regardless of who you want to win, who do you think will win the Republican presidential nomination?

Mitt Romney 71%

Rick Santorum 18%

Newt Gingrich 5%

Suppose your favorite candidate does not win the nomination. When the general election is held, would you be most likely to vote for the Republican candidate, President Barack Obama or a third party candidate?

Eighty-six percent (86%) consider Santorum a conservative, and 78% say the same of Gingrich. As is the case nationally, Romney and Paul are viewed as the least conservative, with 52% and 55% respectively who regard them that way. More tellingly, only eight percent (8%) think Romney is Very Conservative, compared to 53% who believe that of Santorum, 33% of Gingrich and 32% of Paul.

In Texas, Santorum leads among Very Conservative primary voters with 40% to Romney’s 25% and Gingrich’s 23%. Among Somewhat Conservative voters, it’s Romney 39%, Santorum 24% and Gingrich 21%. Romney has an even wider lead among non-conservative voters.

Romney holds a very slight lead among both married and unmarried voters in the state.

Santorum leads among Evangelical Christians in Texas. Romney is ahead among other Protestants, Catholics and voters of other faiths.

Santorum is viewed favorably by 72% of all primary voters in the state, Romney by 68%, Gingrich by 64% and Paul, despite his longtime roots in the state, by just 39%. Fifty-eight percent (58%) view Paul unfavorably.